


Storytime

by Saltshaker527



Series: Breaking Down Barriers [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Female Chara (Undertale), Female Frisk (Undertale), Multi, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saltshaker527/pseuds/Saltshaker527
Summary: We all know the story didn’t start with a wedding between a goat and a skeleton. It started when a troubled kid jumped down a mountain hoping to end it all, but instead got the family she needed.So join me and allow me to tell more tales of the Serriff-Dreemurr kids and their adventures before the wedding. Enjoy Asriel and Chara before the buttercups, Chara sarcastically guiding Frisk through the underground, Frisk keeping the peace between Flowey and Asriel, and more!Technically a prequel to Dead Giveaway and the first of the Breaking Down Barriers series. However it’s a one-shot fic and has no complete plot. Although Storytime and Dead Giveaway may reference each other, you do not have to Dead Giveaway to understand the stories here, and vice versa.





	1. Discoveries and Mistakes Were Both Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Toriel and Sans barge in to attack and intruder only to come face to face with someone they thought they’d never see again

"Don't touch her!" I found myself shouting as Sans and Toriel burst into Frisk's bedroom with their weapons all ready. 

Toriel screamed in shock. "Oh my god! It can't! It can't be!" 

Sans took one look at my eyes and had his power eye fully activated. He summoned two Gaster Blasters and fired. Frisk slammed herself against the wall to dodge them, but they had no effect on my ghost form. 

"I told you so!" Flowey cried from his pot across the room. 

"Shut it you weed!" I snapped back at him. 

"Both of you quiet down!" Frisk piped up. 

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Sans demanded. 

"Chara is it...?"

"Yes it's really me. Don't fucking touch Frisk" I growled. 

"I think the five of us need to have a talk..." Sans trailed off. 

I sighed and facepalmed. "Great. Now I gotta explain shit"

**************************

Frisk sat on the floor with Flowey next to her. Sans, Toriel, and Asgore, who had been called over, were all on the couch. Sans was between the divorced goats. I just kinda floated around. Not like I could really sit anywhere. 

"Let me see if I understand" Toriel said softly. "You two died" she looked between Flowey and I. "You, my child, stayed buried under the flowers I placed you under. But when Frisk fell, her Determination woke up your spirit. You were tied to her via her soul and you stayed with her through her journey" 

I nodded. "Yeah that's pretty much it" 

"What about the whole controlling her against her will thing?" Sans snapped. 

I rolled my eyes. "Trashbag, I did not control her against her will. Frisk handed me control when things got too overwhelming so I could deal with the situation" I corrected him with a smirk. 

"And you" Mom began again, turning to Flowey. "Your dust spread over the garden and your essence was stored into this flower. During the doctor's experiments you came to life and now Alphys believes she can reverse the process and get you your body back" 

Flowey rolled his eyes. "Yup". 

Mom started smiling like I'd never seen before. "This is wonderful! I can have all my children back!" She gushed. 

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Yeah I bet that makes you sooo happy, having the two most problematic kids you've ever had back" I retorted with a snort. 

Asgore looked at me with a confused expression. "Chara? What do you mean? You were not problematic" 

"Not that you ever saw" I responded simply, giving Sans my trademark smirk. 

His eye flickered for a second. Oh this was gonna be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got around to this. Dead Giveaway is still my main project but this will be a side thing. I've had side stories for these kids for months and wanted to share them with my readers but they didn't fit into the main story. This is my way of documenting the mischief the kids got into before the events of Dead Giveaway without straying too far off the plot of that story. Enjoy. See ya bitches
> 
> -Everett


	2. Broken English and Broken Mental Stablity.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chara tries to figure out where she is but doesn’t know enough English to ask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grammar nerds I am sorry. This chapter takes place before Chara got a good grip on English so she's speaking in broken English a lot of the time. You've been warned.

How could this have happened?! I was supposed to die! I was supposed to jump into an exploding mountain and crack my neck not be welcomed into a happy horny family! Whoa. Okay. That's wrong. Horned. That's the word. Stupid French brain.

I locked myself in the bedroom the goat lady had shown me and tried to sort this out. I was in a land filled with monsters and I was staying in the home of the king and queen which was named bad. It was called New Home. 

Yeah that didn't make things any more not confusing. 

The tiny goat entered the room and gave me these giant sad looking eyes. They pretty much pierced my soul. 

He crouched on the bed I had seated myself on. I wondered why the room has two beds if he's the only child. His voice was quiet. Like Celesté's. 

"Are you okay, Chara?" 

Chara. It sounded so wrong to me after being told "Chariana" for so many years. I didn't want to correct him though. I sort of liked it. 

"I'm, good. Fine? Well?" I muttered to myself in French trying to find the right word. "Bonne, bien, ça va... ÇA VA!" I called. "I mean...." I thought very deliberately about the translation. "I'm okay. Is what I meant to say". 

He looked confused. But the perplexed expression left his face and he seemed re- re- oh fuck. Responsive? No. Recording? Definitely not. Relaxed? Relaxed! 

"Well mom made some pie if you wanna try it" he informed me. 

I shook my head. "N... not... faim- no. Wait. Hun.... hun..." 

"Hungry?" 

I nodded. "That". 

"You speak another language" he stated. It wasn't questioning. It was a fact. 

I nodded slowly. "I'm not great at English" I admitted. "Sor- sorry" I stuttered. Rs are tough. 

He shook his head. "Don't be! I think it's cool!" He was smiling so bright. "By the way, you probably heard my parents say it, but I'm Asriel!" 

I forced myself to act like brave. Asriel. Oh god. That name is nearly impossible. Think Chara think. Focus. In English. 

"As...Azzy... Asrie- God damn it that's wrong. As-"

"It's okay if you can't say it" he told me. "Azzy. What you just said. I like that. If that's easier for you to say then I don't mind!" 

He was so kind and small. 

"Azzy" I repeated slowly. "Okay. I can do that". 

He grinned at me. "Okay! Are you sure you don't want some pie? You're really skinny and I don't think you're supposed to be that skinny". 

My eyes widened. Was it a trap? Would this pie be poison? Were they trying to kill me? The hospital had taught me to trust no one. 

"Uh..." 

He sensed my hesitance. "I promise you'll love mom's pie! It's really good! And you're really small and that doesn't seem good" 

I slowly pushed myself off the bed. If it was poison, I'd die and then my original plan wouldn't go to waste. 

He took my hand as he had done when I fell. He led me out of the room, past the staircase, and into the room with the fireplace. The two large goats were sitting at the table and looking at us.

"Ah, there's our happy guest!" The larger one with the beard said. Asgore. 

I smoothed my hair out from in front of my eyes and looked up at him. "H-hello". 

The smaller of the two, Toriel, slid a plate in the reaction one of the empty seats. Azzy sat in the other. I very carefully climbed up into the chair. I'm very small. 

They smiled gently at me, but other than that, carried on their conversation. 

I carefully cut the pie with the fork. The scent was one I couldn't place but it was very sweet. I brought a forkfull of the pastry to my mouth. 

It was mouth watering. It was not something I had ever tasted. Candy? Lord knows we didn't get that at home. Or at the hospital. I think it was candy. 

"Toriel makes great butterscotch pie" Asgore informed me. 

"Butter- buttersc- sco-" I stuttered. I was becoming frustrated. He said it so easily. Why couldn't I get my brain to think in English? 

Azzy saved me. "Chara's not too good with English. She speaks another language" he told them. 

Toriel looked interested. "Oh? What is this other language?" She asked. Her voice was quiet and calm. 

"French" I said with full confidence. That was a word I could say with ease. 

"I've heard of that human dialect I believe" Asgore mused. "Well don't worry about trying to speak English. You do what you can until you learn a little more, young one". 

I just nodded. I didn't know what else to say. I raised more of the pie to my lips. 

"The underground is very excited that we have a newcomer" Toriel said. "I suspect we'll have some visitors soon" 

That scared me. What would they do to me? 

"W-will they hurt me?" I stuttered. That third word was difficult to pronounce. 

Asgore laughed. It was loud and lively, but not mocking. "Oh no no no, small one. They haven't seen a human before. They are curious. You do not have to tell them anything or even talk" he assured. 

I sank back down in my seat to finish the slice of pie. 

I was scared. And broken. And didn't speak their language. But I apparently wasn't supposed to die yet. So I guess I won't die now.


	3. Do Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chara tells Asriel about the surface and that’s definitely all that happens

As Azzy and I sat in Waterfall eating our Nice Creams, I looked up and noticed something. 

"Hey Azzy?" 

He looked over at me and I giggled when I saw he was trying to lick nice cream off his chin. 

"What's those?" I asked, pointing to the spar- shiny things in the ceiling of the cave. I was doing better with English but I wasn't great. At least I could be understood. 

He shrugged and wiped off the Nice Cream with the pad of his thumb. "Dad says those are stars" he told me before shoving his thumb into his mouth to suck the ice cream off of it.

I furrowed my brow. Those weren't stars. "I didn't go outside all that much but those are not stars" 

"They aren't?" 

"No. Stars are.... big. Big balls of gas. And they're brighter. Much brighter. And they show ships where to go and some people make pictures out of them." I rambled. 

Azzy looked excited by that. "Pictures?" 

I nodded. "There's the Big Dipper, there's Ursa Major, there's Orion, there's Gemini, there's Capricorn..." 

"What do they look like?" 

I thought for a second. "Well the Big Dipper looks a little like mom's soup ladle" He laughed at that. "Ursa Major is a big bear. Orion is.... hold on let me think. He's a hunter.... with three stars as his belt" I don't think that was right. "And Gemini is a pair of twins" 

"Like you and your brother?" 

In any other situation I would've smacked someone who talked about Celesté. But he was so innocent. He didn't know any better. 

"Yeah. Except in Gemini they're both boys" 

He looked at me kind of... sideways. "You act like a boy though". 

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Explain?" 

"Well you climb stuff. You like to run around and play and jump with me. You like to play cars with me. You have short hair too". 

I tilted my head down, letting my red hair swing down so he could play with it. He loved batting at my hair like a cat would with string and I loved the feeling. Eagerly, he started batting at my hair as I continued. "Girls can do that stuff too. It's just people don't like us to do it. They think girls need to be all proper and wear dresses and makeup and have long hair" 

"Like mom?" 

I started to nod but after deliberation I shook my head. "No. Even mom wouldn't be a 'real woman' to the humans. She wears dresses but she also rules the kingdom more than dad does. Humans think women need to sit and be quiet and let men do the work" 

Azzy scrunched up his face. "That's dumb. Girls are awesome! Mom is the smartest monster I know!" 

I nodded. "There's nothing I can't do that you can. Except maybe magic. I can't do that" 

Azzy laughed and finished off his Nice Cream. We sat silence for a minute, licking our treats and watching the stones sparkle above us. Then Azzy looked at me with wide innocent eyes. 

"What about the last picture?" 

I flinched, having been lost in my own thoughts. "What?" 

"The last picture" he repeated, scooting been closer to me. "Popcorn" 

"Capricorn" I corrected. "He's a goat" 

His eyes lit up. "Like me!" 

I grinned. "Yeah but he has a tale like Aaron. He doesn't have back legs" 

Azzy looked confused. "Back legs?" He looked down at his feet. "These are the only legs I got though!" 

I mentally facepalmed. "On the surface, goats walk on all fours. So your arms would be your front legs and your legs would be your back one" 

"Ooohhh. That's weird" He said with a little giggle. "Do you know any other pictures?" 

I racked my brain trying to think of more I could describe to him but none came to mind. 

"Hey Azzy? Do you wanna see the pictures?" 

He was practically jumping up and down. "Yeah! I wanna see pictures!" Then he paused his jumping. "Wait how?" 

"You know how everyone wishes they could go on the surface?" 

"Yeah but dad says we can't get there yet" 

"Why keep wishing when we can do something about it?" I said with a smirk. A smirk that he didn't pick up on. 

"What do we do?" 

"I'll explain later, okay? Right now we need to get home". I jumped off the rock we were sitting on and ran off. "Race ya!" 

"Hey!" He yelped and ran after me, laughing. The chase was on again.


	4. Reset to Deny the Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Frisk and Chara regret everything

"We shouldn't have done it" I said for what must've been the thousandth time in the last ten minutes. "The Hell were we thinking?" I kicked a 'wall'. 

The stupid game over screen glared at us from the other side of the fourth wall, the RESET button seemingly glowing. 

Frisk lifted her head off her knees, which she'd been sobbing into for an hour now. "We need to go back" 

"Frisk you don't get it. This isn't like the other times! They'll know. They'll know we've killed. They won't forget." 

Her eyes widened. "Sans...?" 

"He'll know. Hell he'd know better than any of them. He'd be pissed. You know he would. Sans isn't a friend anymore. He's just another victim now. Don't you see Frisk?! We fucked up!"

"Chara we have to make things right! We can go back! We can do pacifist again and make it all right!" 

"Pacifist isn't worth it when I can't save him!" I finally snapped. 

I bit my own tongue. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, why did I say it? This isn't about me. It's about...

Who even is the main character in this story anymore? 

Frisk looked me in the eye for the first time. I flinched. Her eyes were so blue they seemed to glow. Of course everything glowed in this stupid place. It's void of all light except the things in it. But her eyes. They looked so much like his before he sunk into the la-

"So that's why you wanted to stop the pacifist runs" Frisk muttered, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. "You couldn't handle seeing Asriel". Despite knowing my nickname for him, Frisk respectfully followed my requests to not call him Azzy. That was my name for him and mine alone. 

"...You caught me" I sighed. Seeing my dead brother wasn't the only reason of course. But I wasn't about to go into all that. 

"Chara.. maybe there's a way we can save-"

"Don't even start with that shit again" I cut her off, more forcefully than I intended. "We tried everything Frisk" 

"We didn't try bringing him to the surface!" She corrected. "We never even stayed on the surface  for more than a day before we reset. Maybe we should just go up and stay there this time" 

I shuddered at the thought. "Frisk. Ebottville is not... a place I want to go back to" 

"It's changed since you were there Chara. It's better now. I promise. You'll be safe. We all will. We can do this, Chara! We get them all topside, including Flowey, and maybe there's a chance!" 

Damn her. Damn her constant optimism. Why is she so convinced she can take on the entire world and make everyone happy? 

Right. Determination. It's a real bitch sometimes. 

I didn't want to admit she was convincing me but she was. "Maybe. But this next run won't be perfect. They'll be weary of us. They'll remember. They won't trust us Frisk. We SHATTERED their trust. We'd have to do like five pacifist runs in a row to earn that trust back" 

We fell into silence once more. 

"...So we do the five runs" 

I swung my head up to look at her. "What?"

"You heard me. We do five True Pacifist runs. We prove we've changed. Then at the end of the fifth run we stay on the surface. No more resets or reloads. Unless something goes horribly wrong." 

Why did it have to make sense. I sighed and 'walked' (we basically float in this place) over to her. 

"You realize that we'd have to get this PERFECT. We can't slip. We have to be the perfect pacifists. No mistakes. Five times in a row" 

She nodded eagerly.  "Yeah and we know how to do it. It's easy!" 

I looked at the glowing reset button. "Look. If you decide to do this I can't stop you. I'm stuck with you. So if you really wanna go through with this. Then you do the honours".

**************************

The first time was rough. No denying it. Monsters would remember us or at least hint that they did. 

Sans remembered. Of course he did. His voice had a slight growl to it when he greeted us in the forest. But when Frisk turned on command and reached for a handshake, I was delighted by the pure confusion on his face. 

We went through the motions, being super friendly and not even touching the fight button. 

When we reached that stupid tiled hallway we were both tense. I hated to admit it. I was scared. I was partially convinced that Sans was going to disregard the fact that we’d been angelic and just attack anyway. I was worried we’d fucked something up. 

But Sans had his normal Pacifist script going, which relieved us to no end. Frisk moved on to the throne room and we relaxed. We knew what to do from here. 

**************************

Five runs. I didn’t think we could do it. I thought we’d snap. But we didn’t. We made it. 

Frisk waited Azzy out. As he promised, he turned back into a flower. And Frisk scooped him up in one of Mom’s flower pots and took him with us, much to his disgust. 

So here we were. Standing on the cliff looking at the sun. Everyone trusted us. Completely. And everyone was alive. 

“I want to stay with you”, Frisk told mom. And this time, she meant it. WE meant it. 

File Saved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not dead! Work has been kicking my ass and school is starting back up. I’m trying my hardest to write again. But none of my stories are dead


	5. This is No Honour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chara agrees to be in the wedding at the cost of her mental health

"Chara I understand that you're upset but-"

"No! You don't understand! I hate him! I hate him so fucking much and you go and say yes to marrying him! I hate you!" I snapped. 

"You don't mean that my child" Mom said gently. 

"Yes I do! I hate you and I hate Sans!"

I hated what I was doing. Throwing a tantrum like some child. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't explain myself. I couldn't tell her the horrible truth. I'd killed. And he knew it. And the second we were left alone it was all going to go to shit. 

Instead I looked like a bitter kid who was petty over their mother remarrying. Granted that's exactly what I was. But for once in my life I had a reason to be so petty. 

I was trying to save Frisk. And myself I guess. 

"Chara my dear, please listen to me. I know you don't understand love but Sans and I do love each other. We want to spend our lives together. I want you to have a good father figure in your life and I wouldn't have said yes if I didn't believe Sans could fulfill that role." 

"So you're trying to replace Dad." I snapped. Damn it. Why did I have to bring him into it. Now she was gonna be mad at me. 

Toriel's face twisted into a hard scowl. "Young lady I am disappointed in you. You know better than to insinuate that I would replace the father of my children. I am not trying to replace Asgore. I found happiness with someone else". She took a deep breath. "Please try to understand. I know that you are upset. But Sans and I are going to be married. He is willing to take on the role of a father figure. As much as he needs to, no more, no less". 

"He's willing to be a father to Frisk and Azzy. He hates me." 

Toriel chuckled softly. "My dear, do you think he would propose if it would put him in a household with a child he despised?" 

"Probably!" I announced, flopping back on my bed. "For all you know he wants to infiltrate the house and get rid of me for good before the wedding even happens! You don't know!" 

"Chara, Sans would not do such a thing. He already lives with us. I don't see what the difference will be" 

"Whatever" I grumbled. 

We set in silence for a few minutes. I fought to process everything. 

"I have a question for you" Toriel began. "I know that your siblings were very excited to take their roles in the wedding. I had a role for you as well but I did not know if you'd want it. May I tell you what it is?"

I shrugged. "Yeah sure" 

"I want you to be my Maid of Honour, Chara" 

I squinted in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It essentially means you'd be my right hand man, so to speak. You'd be there to help me with my dress and makeup and you'd be there to help me stay calm and be the force of positivity I need. You'd be the head of the bridesmaids. You would also help me plan. Although if any of that is too much for you it can easily be taken over by one of the older girls. I will not be offended. And you're free to say no to this altogether." 

Maid of Honour. Such a strange title. But there was no way I was just gonna sit there quietly while my mom married that scum. 

"I'd like it" I said quietly. 

Mom smiled at me. "I am happy, my child. I very much wanted you to be in the wedding party." 

She gave me a big hug and excused herself to make lunch. 

I sat quietly. I had a lot to think about. 

Some time later, Sans appeared in my doorway. 

"So I heard you said yes to being your mom's Maid of Honour, huh?" 

"No shit" 

His smile dropped ever so slightly. "Look, kid if you don't want it then I can easily tell Toriel to find someone el-" 

"I want it. Shut your fuckin mouth. And get out of my room." 

"There's absolutely no getting through to you is there? You're just a stubborn little brat who refuses to listen to reason" 

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM!" I screeched, throwing a book at his face. 

He dodged it and his eye flared blue. For a split second I was terrified. 

But he sighed and slammed the door. 

Leaving me to sit on my bed, biting my lip and holding back a sob. 

Damn human emotions.


	6. Purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chara debates a colour that she’s always surrounded by

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little Drabble I wrote when I couldn’t sleep. Not my best but better than my worst.

His eyes were blue. They crinkled when he laughed and watered when he cried. I dried them cautiously. 

They lit up when he understood something or when he saw a toy. 

Or when he saw me. 

His eyes were blue. So were mom's and dad's. But their eyes were cold and and unforgiving. They looked to me with malice. 

His eyes were bright. They seemed to glow in the dark. They were pure, having never had to see something unsightly. 

But my eyes were red. He liked it, but they did not.

**************************

Her sweater was blue. The soft fabric clung to her through thick and thin. She was never too hot or too cold. 

She was friendly. Her heart was filled with love. I liked that about her. 

Her soul was red. And so was mine. I liked it. 

**************************

His jacket was blue. It smelled of closet and old ketchup. I could smell it every time she hugged him. 

He made her laugh. He kept her safe, though I thought that was my job. He was a friend. 

I always thought him to be suspicious. He always looked at me. He didn’t know I was there. But he looked. 

He knew more than he let on. I found myself becoming angry with him. He couldn’t know it all. 

He made me see red. I didn’t like it. 

**************************

His eye was blue. Compassion was gone as he whipped our body against the wall. He was ruthless. 

She wanted to give up. I wanted him dead. 

I dodged him fervently but he won every time. I was losing. But I was getting stronger. He fueled my rage.

He turned my red soul blue. I hated it. 

**************************

Her eyes were blue. It made me happy. I stepped out of the machine, trying to figure out how to walk. I hadn’t used my body in decades. 

She gave me my own locket. Her eyes were open for the first time. They were bright. They looked so much like his. 

She became the light in my dark world. I looked to her for help and she did the same to me. 

She looked at my red eyes and told me she liked them. 

************************

His hand was blue. He had changed. He was here for me now. He loved to see me grow. 

He encouraged me to be my best. He trained me for anything. 

His hand was blue. His hand touched mine and mine was red. He held me tight. 

I had the purple that I had needed. 

Finally.


End file.
